GUESS WHO WOKE UP WITH EGG ON THEIR FACE?

Answer: The U.S. State Department (especially Condoleezza Rice) and The New York Times (especially Ethan Bronner).

I'll let Carl in Jerusalem explain since (1) the early bird caught the worm and (2) I am momentarily at a loss for words:

Remember the Fulbright kerfuffle back in June? Remember how US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice nearly ripped Israel some new body parts over its refusal to let seven 'Palestinians' leave the Gaza Strip for interviews for US visas so they could come to the US to 'study' on Fulbright scholarships? Remember how the US State Department finally admitted that it was partially at fault for the foul up?

Well guess what: The US has gotten some 'additional information' and it has now decided to revoke three of those visas plus another visa that had previously been granted to a 'Palestinian' who wanted to come to the US under a different program.

Carl quotes an AP report in Haaretz:

Visas for the three, along with a fourth Palestinian student from Gaza who had hoped to come to the U.S. under a different program, were approved after Rice intervened in June but were rescinded last week when new information about them was received, the officials said. Advertisement "There were four Palestinians who were issued visas about whom we then received additional information," State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said.

"We decided that we needed to take a closer and harder look at them in light of the additional information we received," said Gallegos.

He also said the visas were canceled under a prudential revocation clause in immigration rules that allows them to be rescinded based on information gleaned about the holders after they were issued.

"It does not preclude the applicants from reapplying for visas in the future," he said.

Gallegos declined to comment on the nature of the new information about the four Palestinians, one of whom had actually arrived at Dulles International Airport outside Washington before he was told his visa had been revoked and was forced to return to Jordan.

But another official familiar with the situation said the information related to security issues that were behind the refusal by Israeli authorities to allow them to leave Gaza to be interviewed for visas at the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem in May.

And here's the kicker - Ethan Bronner has the chutzpah to twist the story:

JERUSALEM — The State Department has, for a second time in two months, reneged on its offer to three Palestinians in Gaza to study in the United States on Fulbright grants, this time citing unspecified security concerns.

More in minute. I have to get some coffee.